Editorial (Businessage Monthly)

Manage Changing Times

Some say, it is the worst of times and for others, it is the best of times. The judgement may depend on personal inclination of an individual. And in one more evaluation, it can also be said that these are the changing times that call for proactive environment management.

Textile industries are reported to have closed down one after the other. So is the case in iron rerolling industry. Though many units in readymade garments and carpets industries also closed down, these sectors now have registered a revival after what now has proved to be a momentary decline. Pashmina, in which Nepali skills are renowned from traditions, is registering a tremendous export volume. Companies like Dabur Nepal and Nepal Lever are announcing tremendous increase in their business. Clearly enough, industries in which Nepal is behind in competitive advantage are suffering, and those units are closing down which are incapable to stand the competition. Current times seem more favorable for export-oriented industries, more particularly for those that are based on locally available raw material or local skills.

But the other side of the coin is not free of complains. Businesses are being affected by sudden changes in the government’s policies. Duty structures are changed all of a sudden, making it difficult for businessmen to change their business plans. Without any prior warning, a hefty rise in excise was imposed on manufacturers of plastic material on the pretext of environmental considerations. This did not allow the investors to readjust themselves to the changing conditions. Had the government announced a schedule to hike the duty in a phase-wise manner, that would complete within, say, two years, the industrialists would have time to consider alternatives or to make suitable preparations for remaining in the same industry. A similar situation was faced by trekking agents by suddenly lifting off the provision that required every trekker to be registered with one or the other of the trekking agencies. The list may become very long if all such cases are enumerated.

When an industrial unit fails, it is not only the loss of an individual investor who has put money in that ill-fated unit. Rather, it is the nation’s capital that goes wasted. If the case is an isolated one involving only one or two units, it may be unworthy of national concern, but when industries get affected en masse, it calls for an urgent attention from the government as well as other quarters concerned.

As the new millennium approaches, the time is running short for Nepal to prepare itself for the challenges that the new era has in store. WTO regime gradually becoming pervasive all over the world and shrinking of the cyberspace into tiny windows of personal computers require that the outlook and pace of work get changed. While our businessmen themselves may be blamed for failing to read the writings on the walls, the government is equally to blame for not making the business community forewarned of what it actually plans to do. And equally responsible are the business associations like chambers and commodity associations which fail to educate and inform their members about the changing macro economic scenarios in both national and international markets. Chandrababu Naidu, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, State of India has provided the role model for the government leadership. The present day reality is that even seemingly unpopulistic measures from the government will be supported by the electorate if implemented in earnest. The need of the hour is for better change management from both the government and business sectors.